Richard Timberlake facts for kids

Richard Henry Timberlake Jr. (June 24, 1922 – May 22, 2020) was an American economist. An economist is someone who studies how money, goods, and services are made and used. He taught economics at the University of Georgia for many years.

Timberlake was a strong supporter of free banking. This idea suggests that private banks, not just the government, should be able to create and issue their own money. He also wrote a book called Constitutional Money, which looked at how the U.S. Supreme Court made decisions about money.

Early Life and Education

Richard Timberlake was born in Steubenville, Ohio, on June 24, 1922. During World War II, he served in the U.S. military. He was a pilot in the U.S. Air Forces. He flew 26 missions as a co-pilot and received three Purple Heart awards.

After the war, he went to college. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College in 1946. Then, he got a Master's degree from Columbia University in 1950. In 1959, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. There, he studied with famous economists like Milton Friedman.

Teaching and Research

Timberlake taught economics at several universities. These included Muhlenberg College, Norwich University, and Florida State University. From 1963 to 1990, he taught at the University of Georgia, where he later retired.

His main research focused on the history of money. He also studied central banking and how governments manage money, known as monetary policy. Richard Timberlake passed away in Georgia on May 22, 2020.

Key Ideas and Beliefs

The Idea of Free Banking

Richard Timberlake was very interested in how private banks could create money. He worked with the free banking movement. This idea suggests that instead of a government-controlled central bank, different banks should compete to issue their own currencies. He believed this would create a better system for money.

Understanding the Great Depression

Timberlake also studied the Great Depression, a very difficult economic time in the 1930s. He believed that a big reason for the depression was a change in how the Federal Reserve (the U.S. central bank) managed money.

Starting in 1929, the Federal Reserve began a policy that reduced the amount of money banks could create. This caused the total money supply to shrink by 30% in just four years. Timberlake, along with other economists, thought this was the main cause of the Great Depression.

The Gold Standard Debate

Many economists blamed the gold standard for the money problems during the Great Depression. The gold standard meant that the value of money was directly tied to gold. However, Timberlake disagreed with this view.

He showed that the U.S. had plenty of gold between 1929 and 1933. He believed that government actions, not the gold standard itself, caused problems like money growth cycles and economic downturns. He thought that too much government interference led to panics and depressions.

Political Involvement

Richard Timberlake was active in politics. He was a member of the Libertarian Party. He supported Harry Browne's presidential campaign. He also wrote letters supporting ideas like school choice and opposing higher taxes.

He also wrote articles for the Athens Banner Herald. In these articles, he shared his views on topics like climate change. He was also a scholar at the Cato Institute, a research group.